Decision
by Surreal Redmoon
Summary: Decisions have a habit of changing everything we know and once they're made there's no going back. Follows some of the choices Mikasa has to make once she and her comrades graduate. Spoilers for 'The Female Titan' story arc. Previously a one-shot but I've now decided to continue it.
1. Graduation

This started pit as a quick Mikannie story where I wanted to try out writing in 2nd person but I enjoyed it quiet a bit so I've decided to continue it xD

Disclaimer: I don't own SnK, yada yada yada…

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They're celebrating and drinking all around you, trying to forget all that lies outside of these four safe, warm walls. Tomorrow you will make your choice; the Scouting Legion, the Garrison or the Military Police. You hear Eren expressing his opinions and continued desire to join the Scouts and you release a low sigh as you sip more of your drink. You will follow him, after all he'll die without your protection and you made a promise five years ago to look after him.

You glance around at the other graduates until your eyes lock with hers. Ice blue orbs which burn through every defence you have and see right through to your very core, making your heart beat fast as they seem to draw a conclusion and blink away. In the distance you see her stand and leave; you follow.

She's made it a few buildings down the road when you finally catch up and pull her into an alleyway nearby. You face each other, her back against the wall, her face looking bored, and your arms either side of her head. Neither of you can tell how much time passes before you finally speak.

"Annie…"

"You're going to follow him aren't you?" she asks you flatly and all you can do is look to the side and nod once.

"He needs me to protect him." You look down at her now and almost flinch at the pain now held in her eyes. You've never seen her like this before, even when your bodies have moved against one another in passion and lust she's never seemed so naked in front of you.

"And when you die trying to protect him? Do I really mean nothing to you Mikasa?" This time you do flinch as the pain and anger in her voice pierces your heart and makes you want to drop to your knees and beg her to forgive you, to promise her that you won't leave, that you'll follow her into the Military Police instead. But that promise, five years ago, hangs in your mind and as you stand there in silence once more she realises that it's all in vain. You may love her but you can't turn away from him now.

"So, that's your decision."

Her sigh pulls you back to the present and she leans up to press her lips against yours. It's a cold kiss, full of pain and sorrow and you can taste tears but you can't tell who they are from. And then it's over; she pushes you back against the opposite wall, her face once again a cold, bored mask and walks away. By the time you regain yourself enough to move she's no-where to be seen and when you return to the common room and look around you can't see her… she's gone.


	2. The Female Titan

So after reading through the first part again and considering what might happen in events further down the line with these two I decided to try and continue this story. I'm continuing in the 2nd person since that's how I wrote the first part and I've found it an interesting way to write. I hope you enjoy this and I will try to get the next part up as soon as I get the chance to write it xD.

Just an extra note this chapter contains spoilers for The Female Titan story arc. This will be the only part that specifically follows the events of the anime/manga.

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You follow the others and although you're aware of everything around you, you keep your eyes focused on the blonde girl leading. Eren and Armin are talking amongst themselves and you see her turn to look over her shoulder at them and then you. When your eyes meet your heart skips a beat and you wage an internal battle to keep your expression neutral until she turns away. The sigh you release is barely audible and no-one seems to notice it.

Your orders are clear; escort the suspect to the given location under the guise of wanting to help Eren escape the trail. The plan was designed to minimalize potential casualties and damages by escorting her underground, where she would not be able to utilise her titan form or the 3D manoeuvring gear. If you can get her there you know that you have the skill and strength to subdue her, your fights together during your training years have shown you that much, but you know when the time comes your heart will falter.

You glance at Eren, the boy who has been by your side ever since that fateful day all those years ago, the boy who has begun to push you away so that he can stand on his own; a champion of humanity, who was now going to be condemned for something he couldn't have controlled. Was she the same? No. You've been though it in your head a hundred times since you returned from the 57th Expedition, she knew what she was doing and what the consequences would be… it doesn't make it hurt any less.

"Here." You hear Armin say as he rushes over the steps leading down under the city. Only now do you realise that you've been lost in your own thoughts this whole time and now the time has come. You brush past her as you follow the boys down but avoid looking at her, knowing that if you do you will break. When you don't hear a fourth set of footsteps behind you, you turn back and finally look up at her. You know now there is nothing you can do; now it's up to her.

"When did you start looking at me like that?" She has her eyes trained on you and you know that she can see through everything as they harden and she looks away. "Armin?"

You can't take your eyes off of her as you hear Armin and Eren plead for her to come down the steps. She looks at you again; those cold, hard eyes revealing nothing of the emotions the girl was feeling. Your eyes are a different story, you can feel them burn with the message you try to relay to the other girl; although you won't actually speak the words. _Please, Annie, come with us, come with me. Please don't fight against us, don't make me take you down._

There's a flash of… something… in her eyes but it takes you a moment to recognise it; it's a look you've seen on her face when she'd train until she'd collapse, body unable to move any further.** Determination.**

You feel a sharp pain in your chest but choose to ignore it for now; it's not going to change anything now. You throw off your raincoat and draw your blades, she's made her decision and just like you turned away from her months ago she's turning away from you now. Your eyes lock once more and something inside you breaks, shifts and reforms leaving you feeling resolute about what you now have to do.

Her laughter bounces against the walls around you as you watch her hand move towards her mouth intent on biting down to allow the titan transformation. The flare in Armin's hand goes off and it's a matter of seconds before she's surrounded by members of the Scouting Legion, grabbing her arms and gagging her so she can't cause the wound that will allow her to escape.

A flash of the sun reflecting off of something in her hand and a defiant smile on her face are all the warning you need to grab Eren and Armin, dragging them as far into the tunnel as you can, before her finger can strike down onto the spike that had been enclosed within her ring.

The brightness of the flash would have blinded you if you hadn't closed your eyes as you were thrown down the remaining stairs and against the wall at the bottom.

"Mikasa? Are you ok?" Armin and Eren look at you concern evident on their faces.

"She made her decision." Your voice is barely a whisper but Eren still raises an eyebrow at the flat tone of your voice. You look up at him and for a second you wonder what would have happened if you had promised to follow her that night instead of him. A small shake of your head clears the thought and everything in you stills; now is not the time for lost promises and memories, you have a titan to take down.

As you and Armin run to the exits of the tunnel you hear Eren call to you one more time,

"Mikasa! Armin! How? How can you fight her? How?!"

The question stops you in your tracks and you turn to look at him over your shoulder. Face set in an expressionless mask, hiding the anger and pain that has been slowly building inside of you since you drew your blades on her.

"We don't have a choice." You pause. "The world is cruel."

* * *

You watch on helpless as the two titan forms battle against each other, leaving destruction in their wake; although you could have sworn that she's trying to draw the combat away from highly populated areas as she tries to make her way towards the wall. You know that she could have killed you only minutes ago, when you had engaged her to try and buy some time for Eren to transform, but she didn't and you're left wondering if you would have done the same if your roles were reversed.

After a while, you see her make a break for the wall and you launch yourself off the roof in pursuit. Now there is no time to think, if she gets over the wall then it's over; you'll never find out why she's fighting you and a small voice in your head tells you that if she escapes you will never see her again.

She's halfway up the way by the time you catch up to her. Without thinking you're blades slice cleanly through the fingers on her right hand and as you come back around to slice through the fingers of her left hand you briefly wonder why she hasn't just hardened her skin more to stop you. You land on her nose and stare into the giant ice blue eyes before you.

"Annie. Fall."

The words that leave your mouth sound cold and emotionless. As you feel her body begin to fall from beneath you, you shoot your wires into the wall so you don't fall too; never once looking away from the eyes that hold the same painfully sad look they had held the night you parted. A sharp pain strikes you deep in your chest when the large body hits the ground with a sickening crash, but you ignore it. You watch on from your perch on the wall and Eren's titan form rips into the nape of her neck and pulls the small, limp body out, a small sigh of relief escapes you when you realise she's still alive.

It happens so quickly that no-one has time to react. One second you can see her lying on the ground surrounded by your comrades, the next all you can see is thick clouds of steam surrounding her. You want to get back down and see what is going on but something keeps you from releasing your cables. As the steam dissipates you get a clear view of the huge yellow crystal that resides where her body lay and from the cries of anger and frustration you can tell that she's inside of it.

You finally move to return to the ground but something in the corner of your eye catches your attention. A portion of the wall, where her giant fingers had pierced during her climb, has broken away. Your body freezes as you recognise the form you see within and all thoughts of what is happening on the ground flee your mind. You are left staring into the face of a Colossal Titan.

Okay so this part doesn't differ much from the actual anime and I know Mikasa seems to be rather blasé about what's going on but I wanted to try and keep her as in character as possible.

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So, what will happen next? Will they be able to get Annie out of her crystal? What will happen if they do? Stick around for the next part and you might find out xP.

Please do leave a review if you enjoyed this so far, it really helps to motivate me to get more written even with my crazy workloads!


	3. Regrets

The shadows, cast by the burning torch in your hand, dance around you tauntingly to the drum beat of your echoing footsteps on the stone floor. The guard on duty outside of the cell stands as you approach and stares at you blankly as you explain that you are here to relieve him. You almost think that he won't believe you, but it's cold down here and you know he's been on duty long enough that he probably hasn't eaten supper yet and sure enough after a few moments the promise of bed and a hot meal are enough to get the man to leave his post.

You make sure he's gone before carefully opening the door and staring into the dark room beyond. The flickering light from the torch isn't enough to fully light the room but as you slowly step forwards towards what you know lies at the far side of the room a soft yellow glow begins to fill the room. As you lift the torch higher you notice that it's the light refracting off the crystal structure, spreading the light into the cold, dark corners of the room.

You're stood an arm's length away from the crystal now and you can just about make out the outline of the small figure encased inside. You pause and breathe deeply to try and still your mind;

'_I can't be sure until I see it for myself… it may not be her in there…'_

You know it's a lie, you know it can't be anyone else, but still you need to see it… you need to see Her.

It takes you another minute before you can make that last step forward, the step that brings you close enough to see into the crystal. It only takes a second for you to recognise the blonde hair and sharp features that you would once caress. Your fist slams down hard onto the crystal surface barricading you from her and you begin to feel the anger burn through your veins.

You're not sure how long you've stood there beating your fists against the barrier but at some point you dropped the torch and it rolled against the crystal, further lighting its contents. You stare at her face in silence, ignoring the pain from you bruised fists, and eventually the burn of anger changes into something different. You slide down to the floor, leaning against the cold surface of the crystal. You've felt this way before, all those years ago when your parents were taken away from you, and now…

"I saw you smile once, not that evil grin you gave us earlier but a genuine smile. It was in our second year of training when we were doing manoeuvre training in the forest. I don't think you saw me, I was waiting on a tree branch for Eren to catch up, when you flew past with the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen on your face. I knew that I wanted to make you smile like that again but I also knew that in the end I wouldn't be able to choose you."

You push yourself back to your feet and place a hand against the crystal.

"Would it have been different if I had chosen you that day? If I had agreed to join the Military Police with you? Would you still have done it and left me like this?"

You don't know when you started to cry but you can feel the hot tears leaving tracks down your cheeks.

"I loved you Annie… I truly did… and now you've left me all alone just like everyone else."

At some point the tears stop and you are able to pull yourself together enough to head back to the barracks. You lie in bed for another hour holding your emotions in check as you hear the others moving around and talking quietly. Annie's treachery is of course the hot topic at the moment, but people are carefully avoiding saying anything to you about it.

Meanwhile, in the now dark room, a tiny crack starts to form inside the crystal structure just above the slowly beating heart and small movements begin to occur under the closed eyelids of the girl inside.

So just a short one this time but I promise to flesh out the final chapter a bit more xD


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